They detect in France a new variant of Covid which …

A new version of the SARS-CoV2 coronavirus, very difficult to detect by conventional PCR tests, has been discovered in French Brittany (north-west), but the authorities exclude that it is more serious or contagious than the original variant.

It is the biologist of the hospital of the city of Lannion who gave the alert on the patients presenting “typical symptoms of covid” but with results “sometimes” negative in the PCR test, explained Stéphane Mulliez, director of the regional health agency.

The difficulty in detecting this variant is not linked to the fact that the PCR tests were carried out late. “One possibility is that the virus is moving faster between the upper and lower respiratory tract.”said Alain Tertre, head of the regional unit of Public Health France. “But these are assumptions,” he said.

However, it is not classified as a disturbing version. Only three variants are considered particularly worrying: the English, the South African and the Brazilian, in particular because of their potentially more transmissible nature..

For the Breton variant, “the first analyzes do not allow to conclude either on a severity or on a greater transmissibility compared to the historical virus”, assured Monday the General Directorate of Health of France.

“This variant being more difficult to detect, it is difficult to assess its transmissibility and degree of severity.“Said Mulliez.

The appearance of variants is natural, as the virus mutates over time. More than 4,000 variants of SARS-CoV-2 have been identified worldwide, according to the British health service.